Maxon Motor' becomes 'Maxon'. The drive specialist wants to emphasize the system concept and its wide range of products and no longer see itself reduced to the word 'motor'. From now on, the 'Maxon' brand will help users to solve their drive tasks. The company had already announced this in July, and the company can now be seen with its new branding for the first time at SPS.

The move is not unexpected: Over the years, the Maxon Group has evolved from an electric motor specialist and component supplier to a global partner for precise mechatronic drive systems. As electric motors can only show their strengths in a complete drive system, Maxon also develops and produces gearboxes, sensors and control systems, thus offering cross-platform system solutions. The various components are increasingly interlinked and interoperability is becoming more and more important.

At SPS, Maxon will be presenting the Epos4 Micro 24/5 positioning controller and has also launched a new product line: The IDX 56 are compact brushless drives with an integrated frequency inverter. They meet protection class IP 65 and deliver a continuous torque of up to 0.7 Nm, which corresponds to a high torque density, and are optionally available with further options.

The EC-i motor technology (BLDC) combines high continuous torques and high power density with the Epos4 positioning control. Due to its compactness, the IDX is more efficient than current solutions on the market. The high-quality design is complemented by an IP 65-protected housing. The IDX drives are designed so that they can be controlled via CANopen or EtherCAT.

The adjustable digital and analog inputs and outputs are also matched to the functions and operating modes of the CiA-402 device profile. In addition to the intuitive software for commissioning, Maxon provides libraries for integration into a wide range of master systems. Using the graphical user interface of EPOS Studio, the configurable drive system automatically searches for the ideal control parameters (auto tuning). Temperature sensors are already present on the winding and in the positioning controller so that the user can make the best possible use of the operating range.

In conjunction with an integrated single-turn sensor, the Epos4 positioning controls enable absolute positioning. The Epos4 series is now also available in a micro version. As the name suggests, the main advantages of these motion controllers are their miniaturized design and attractive price, while the range of functions remains practically identical to the other platform products. This makes the controller an interesting solution for robotics applications with limited space and cost-sensitive multi-axis applications. The CANopen version is available for the time being, with the EtherCAT version following in spring 2020.